Amputating appakatus



' as a retractor.

UNTTED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE. 7

GEO. W. GRISWOLD, OF CARBONDALE, PENNSYLVANIA.

AMPUTATING APPARATUS.

Speccation of Letters Patent No. 10,435, dated January 17, 1854.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE l/V. GrinswoLD, of Carbondale, count-y of Luzerne, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Surgeons Instrument to Assist in Amputating Limbs; and I hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description.

It is called Griswolds amputators assistant.77 A

To enable others to make and use my invention I proceed to describe its const-ruction and operation, reference being had to the annexed drawings which make part ot' this specification.

Figure l, side and perspective View of the apparatus; Fig. 2, elevation of the end; Fig. 3, the apparatus as arranged at the time the bone is being sawed off; Fig. 4, plan of the base; Fig. 5, the adjustable rest, or elevator, on which the bone rests.

In cases of amputation it is very important to hold the limb firmly and still more important to hold the bone firmly Vat the time it is sawed oli. By the ordinary mode, persons unskiltul in the use ot' the saw, and even the most experienced, will tind it ditlicult to hold the bone iirmly. In the ordinary mode of holding the bone to be sawed, the result is painful to the patient, and sometimes fatal, in consequence of aprotracted operation by want of some apparatus which is furnished in the amputators assistant, and of course more intended for inexperienced, than skilful surgeons, though valuable to all.

The apparatus as seen at Fig. l is used after cutting the iesh of the limb. Instead ot' the use of handkerchiefs or cloths for retract-ors, this apparatus is used. The rest, B, is adjusted to the proper height for the bone, .(which is to lie in the cavity of the rest) by means of the brace, Gr. Being thus adjusted and ready after the flesh is cut, this apparatus is placed'beneath the limb and the bone laid upon the rest. The semicircular plate, A is then pressed down upon the bone irmly. The apparatus is rst used Being shut upon the bone it isidrawn firmly up toward the body, laying the bone bare, as far as desirable. The

pointed feet, or points Which are under the base, F, set firm in the table and hold the flesh in place, while the operator with one hand pressing down upon the semi-circular disk, A, holds the bone, and with .the other hand saws it off. 1

The construction is quite simple. Upon a base, F, made of wood or metal a plate, C, is erected-with a portion cut o-ut from the top at the middle. Two channeled cleats,

E (one only being seen) are erected upon j.

the baseand connected with the plate, C. j

In the grooves of these cleats the rest, B, slides up and down. The rest is a thin plate, Fig. 5, with an angular cut at its top The semicircular disk A is hinged at one'V end and is made to shut over the rest,.o1i the rear of the plate, C, so as to closerupon the bone. There is a flat piece upon the top ator.

. Upon the base is set the guide D, which consists of two standards (see Fig. 2) between which the saw is operated. In thisI guide, D, the saw moves with certainty, and cannot catch, as is the case when the bone is loose, in the ordinary mode of amputation. Beneath the base are set four or more point-v ed feet J, that stick into the table or board on which the patient lies, and hold the apparatus inplace when used.

What I claim as my invention and desire t0 secure byv Letters Patent is:

The combination oi? the adjustable rest B, movable disk A, and guide or standard D, for holding the bone, retracting the flesh, and guiding the saw, in amputating limbs, the whole being made and operating substantially as described.

G. IV. GRISWOLD.

vedge of the disk for the hand of the oper- 

